Ain't That the Worst Thing You Ever Heard?
by ausllydawmoon
Summary: Or where one tiny kiss with her mortal enemy under the mistletoe sends them both spiraling. Auslly. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

Ally isn't sure why he hates her; all she knows is that he does. And so, by default, she hates him too. She did nothing to make him hate her, yet he hasn't been nice to her since they met freshman year of high school. Now they're seniors, and at this point, she's pretty sure he's only a jerk to her out of spite or too much pride to admit that he had no reason to hate her in the first place.

Still, for two people who hate each other, they sure do spend a lot of time together. Her best friend is close with his best friend, which means they go out together in a group pretty often. Plus, he's in a lot of her classes, despite the fact that he doesn't really have the grades to _belong _in the AP program. And the cherry on top of the cake? They're neighbors.

That's actually how they met. His family moved in next to them a week before freshman year, and they hosted a housewarming party and invited everyone on their street. Her parents insisted that she try to make friends with him because they had already met his parents and were becoming friends. She probably would have anyway, since he was the only person there her age, but they actually did spend the whole party together.

After that, though, something changed. The next time she saw him was at school, and when she went up to talk to him and offer to show him around, he rolled his eyes and brushed her off. Ever since then, he's hated her for no reason and she's hated him because of it.

"Austin Moon!" the girl he's talking to exclaims playfully, smacking his shoulder while he smirks and leans against his locker.

Did she mention their lockers are right next to each other?

He leans forward and says something she can't hear, but whatever it is makes the girl smile, wave, and walk away. Ally pretends not to feel his judgmental eyes on her.

"Got something you wanna say, Dawson?" he asks her.

"Not to you," she says, closing her locker and starting to walk away.

"Hey, dumbass," he calls after her. "You know you dropped your phone, right? And Mom's calling!"

She turns, eyes wide, and rushes back over to him to try to get her phone back, but he answers it and turns so she can't reach it.

"Hello? Oh, hey, Penny!" he says cheerily into the phone. She reaches around him to try to grab the phone out of his hand, but he simply turns again so it's just out of her reach.

"Give it back—" she says.

"Ally? No, she's not here. I found her phone just laying on the ground. I didn't realize she could be so irresponsible," he says.

"Mom, that's not true!" she tries to yell into the phone, but he turns away from her again.

"Yeah, of course I'll give it to her…Oh, you're welcome…Okay, I'll tell her…Buh-bye." He hangs up the phone and she snatches it out of his hand.

"What the hell?" she says, immediately calling her mom back. "You're such a child, Austin."

"Sticks and stones, Dawson," he says with a mock pout, placing his hand over his heart and then walking away.

"Hello?" her mom says on the other end of the line.

"Mom!" Ally exclaims. "I'm so sorry about that. Austin took my phone, and—"

"So that _was _you shouting in the background," her mom laughs.

"Yes, it was."

"Well, aren't you and Austin just the best of friends?"

"Mom, no matter how many times you say it, he and I will never be friends," Ally says tiredly.

"I'm just speaking it into existence, dear. You two really should just work out your differences. Do you even know _why _you don't like him?"

"Because he doesn't like me."

"Besides that."

"He thinks I did something worth hating me over, when I didn't do anything to him. That's reason enough for me," Ally says.

Her mother sighs. "I just wish you two could be friends. Anyway, I called because I just remembered it: I wanted to remind you that we're decorating the Christmas tree tonight, so make sure you plan accordingly with your homework."

"Oh, I forgot about that," Ally says. It's two weeks before Christmas exactly, and come hell or high water, it's a Dawson tradition to decorate their tree on December eleventh. "I will," she adds.

"And the Moons are coming over for dinner."

Ally sighs, bringing a hand to her forehead. "Of course, they are," she mutters. "All of them?"

"According to Mimi, yes."

"Okay. Thanks for the heads up. I gotta get to lunch now, so I'll see you at home. Love you, bye."

She hangs up, takes a deep breath, and then walks to the cafeteria and sits down silently next to her best friend, Trish. Trish doesn't even seem to notice she's there, though, because she's busy bickering with Austin.

"Waffles are _way _better than pancakes!" she exclaims. "Even Dez will agree with me. Right, Dez?" she asks, looking at Austin's best friend expectantly.

"Uh, yeah, totally," Dez says, clearly uncertain about the whole thing.

"Dez, are you kidding me?" Austin asks.

"She'll hurt me if I disagree," Dez reminds him, which Ally knows is half-true. Trish tends to overreact when it comes to Dez.

"And Ally agrees, too," Trish adds.

"Well, she'll say anything to disagree with me, so it doesn't count," Austin argues.

"No, waffles are objectively better than pancakes," Ally says, biting into her sandwich. "Face it, Moon. You're outnumbered."

Austin scrunches up his face. "Yeah, I'm not taking _anyone _seriously who never learned to chew with their mouth closed."

Ally rolls her eyes and swallows her food. "Says the guy who grew up wealthy yet never learned not to burp at the dinner table, or put the toilet seat down, or _aim_."

"Okay," Trish interrupts as Austin opens his mouth to fire something back (probably talking about how that was _one time _because he saw a spider in the bathroom and it startled him, which she still doesn't believe). "That's enough. We're all eating, and for once I'd like to have a nice lunch with my friends without you two trying to rip each other's throats out."

"Yeah, the sexual tension is making my apple slices turn brown," Dez complains, biting into one of said apple slices.

"We don't have sexual tension," Ally says through gritted teeth as her stomach turns over at even the _thought _of it. "And your apples are turning brown because you're not eating them."

"Yes, I am," Dez says, his mouth full. Ally wants to point out that Austin doesn't complain when _Dez _talks with food in his mouth all the time, but she does it once and Austin is suddenly the etiquette police. But she bites her tongue, instead finishing her sandwich in silence.

After lunch, Ally opens up her locker to grab her books for AP Chem. But the locker slams closed before she has a chance to. She turns and sees Austin standing over her, his hand still on her locker.

"Can I help you?" she asks.

"Yeah. Can you maybe _not _broadcast my personal life to the entire school?"

She rolls her eyes. "It was Trish and Dez. And you started it."

"I don't give a fuck about the toilet seat or whatever. I'm talking about the money part, dumbass."

"It was still just Trish and Dez. They both know your mom's the CEO of—"

"Sh—shh!" he says, putting a finger to her lips. She immediately cringes and smacks his hand away, wiping off her mouth. She doesn't want to know where that hand has been. "I'm serious. My mom and I don't like people we aren't close to knowing about it."

"Well, I know about it."

"Our parents are close, dumbass."

"Okay, call me a dumbass _one _more time—"

"Just don't talk about the money, okay? Or…anything else."

She knows exactly what he's talking about. "You don't actually think I'd tell anyone about that," she says doubtfully. Does he really think she's that bad a person? When she didn't do anything in the first place?

"I just had to be sure," Austin says. "Not even Dez knows, so…"

"Hey." She tilts her head and meets his eyes. "I would never talk about that," she says seriously. "And I know you don't talk about it either, but if you ever wanted to…"

He swallows. "Yeah," he says quietly, his voice strained. "I know."

She believes he really does know she'd be there for him if he needed her. And what's more, she'd like to think he'd do the same for her. They may be mortal enemies or whatever, but they have a complicated connection beyond that. And they both know it.

* * *

It's a miracle that their family dinners aren't incredibly awkward with Austin and Ally always glaring daggers at each other across the table and not-so-subtly scoffing at everything the other person says. But somehow, their parents don't even seem to notice. Or, if they do, they pretend not to. And Austin's younger brother is too oblivious to even realize Austin and Ally hate each other.

"Mom, can I have more pasta?" the seven-year-old asks.

"Of course, honey," Mimi replies, scooping more onto his plate.

"Seems like Max is going through a growth spurt," Ally's dad notes.

Max's face melts into a toothless smile. "I'm gonna be taller than you soon, Lester!"

"I'm sure you will," he laughs.

"Austin, Ally, if you two are done, could you go get the ornament boxes from the garage and start unpacking them in the living room so we can decorate the tree before dessert?" Ally's mother asks.

"Sure, Mom," Ally replies, standing up and taking her dish to the sink, rinsing it off, and then putting it in the dishwasher. Austin follows silently.

Then they walk down the hall and out to the garage and each grab a big cardboard box full of ornaments to carry into the living room. Then they open their respective boxes and pull out smaller storage bins full of Christmas ornaments. As Austin stands back up to his full height after hunching over the boxes, his head hits something hanging from the ceiling.

"Is this fucking mistletoe?" he whispers to her, grabbing the plant between two fingers and examining it.

"Austin and Ally are under the mistletoe!" Max shrieks from the entryway between the kitchen and the living room. Both of them turn to look at him, and he giggles before running back into the kitchen.

The talking in the kitchen falls silent, and Austin rolls his eyes.

"I'm not fucking kissing you," he says.

"Austin, language!" Mimi scolds from the kitchen.

Then, all three parents appear in the entryway with arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Well?" Penny says. "You know the rules."

"Does that mean if Lester and Mom got caught under the mistletoe, _they'd _have to kiss?" Austin asks.

"You know it doesn't work like that, honey," Mimi says. "You two both need to swallow your pride and embrace the Christmas spirit. And who knows? Maybe there'll be a Christmas miracle and you'll be able to set your differences aside for at least a little while."

"Austin and Ally sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Max giggles, running to Mimi's side.

"I'm calling CPS and telling them our families are trying to force their kids to make out," Austin says.

"No one said anything about making out," Lester says.

"Just kiss me so they'll shut up about it," she mutters so only he can hear her.

"Jesus Christ," Austin says, rolling his eyes and leaning down to press just about the shortest kiss _ever _to Ally's lips.

"See? That wasn't so hard," Mimi says. "And now we can go back to the dinner you two interrupted," she jokes. And just like that, their families are back in the kitchen, talking about something completely unrelated as if nothing even happened.

"If you had just sucked it up and done it, that would've been a lot less painful than it was," Ally tells him, moving both cardboard boxes against the wall. "You know how our parents are."

"Yeah, well, they should know how _we _are," he mutters.

"They're just messing around. Give them a break," Ally says. "There are worse things your mom could do than tease you about kissing me." She tries not to let the hurt show in her voice, but she knows he picks it up.

It's not that she particularly _wanted _to kiss him (although the thought _has _crossed her mind), but he didn't have to act so disgusted about kissing her. He may hate her, but she'd like to think he can at least acknowledge that she's attractive, like she can do for him. But apparently not.

She starts walking down the hall again, and she hears his footsteps behind her.

"Come on, don't be like that," he sighs. He actually sounds like he didn't mean or want to hurt her. "You know that's not what I meant."

"I know," she says.

"Then why are you walking away?"

"Because there's one more box to get."

She opens the door to the garage and gestures to the box to prove her point. When she walks into the garage to grab the box, Austin follows.

"My mom's trying to be normal, after what happened. She's overcompensating."

Ally hesitates. "It's okay. I don't blame her. Or you."

"She just…she wants something to believe in, you know? And since your parents were family friends and their marriage turned out so well, she wants that for me and Max. And since I have you, she's…projecting."

"Austin," she says, turning to face him. "It's _okay_."

He looks at her for a split second before running a hand through his hair and looking past her, over her shoulder. "He should fucking be here."

Ally presses her lips together and immediately tries not to think about how his lips were on them only a minute ago, albeit only for a millisecond. Is he really talking about his father? _Now_?

"Yeah. He should. But it isn't your fault that he isn't," she says.

"Then why do I feel like it is?" He meets her eyes again, and he looks pained.

"I don't know," she says quietly. "But it _isn't_, okay? _He's _the one who left. _He _made that choice."

Austin sniffs, and she pretends not to notice the tear that rolls down his cheek as he looks down. "Max still asks when Dad's coming home from his 'business trip.' What are my mom and I supposed to say to that?" He sniffs again. "And is he gonna think I abandoned him too if I go off to college?"

"Austin…" Ally says, her voice barely above a whisper as she tries to keep her own emotions in check. He's never been vulnerable like this in front of her before, and he's certainly never _cried _in front of her. If he doesn't seem to mind that she's seeing him like this, he must _really _be upset.

She wraps her arms around him, mostly because she doesn't know what else to do, and combs her fingers through his hair slowly. He hesitates for a second, but then he hugs her back even tighter and buries his face in her shoulder.

They stay like that for a while, and Ally knows that their parents are probably having too much fun just talking to remember the Christmas tree. And as long as Max doesn't bring it up, they pretty much have all the time in the world.

Austin moves so his chin is resting on her shoulder, probably so she can hear him when he says quietly, "He was the one who made me do all the AP classes. And he always got mad at me for not getting good enough grades. The last thing he said to me was that he was disappointed in me."

Ally squeezes her eyes shut. As much as Austin can be an asshole, she knows he doesn't deserve any of this. So she keeps running her fingers through his hair, which seems to relax him a little, and says, "You can't blame yourself. Not for him leaving, and not for your grades either."

"He probably still thinks I wasn't trying. But I _do _try."

"I know you do," she says. She sees him studying and doing homework every night; her window faces his. "But his opinion isn't worth worrying about. _He _isn't worth it."

"I know," he says quietly. "It's just hard. He's my dad. And what if my mom thinks the same thing?"

"She doesn't," Ally tells him. "She is _so _proud of you."

"How do you know that?" he asks her, pulling away to meet her eyes.

"Because she brags about you to my mom every day. And Max wants to be _you _when he grows up. Austin, don't let your dad, the man who left your family, define you. Worry about the people who are worth it."

He sniffs again and wipes his eyes, clearing his throat. "You know, Dawson, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you were being _nice _to me just then."

Ally smiles a little. _He's back. _"Then it's a good thing you know better, isn't it?"

She brushes past his shoulder lightly to grab the last ornament box, but he catches her wrist before she can. When she looks up at him again, his eyes are storming and his jaw is tight, and she wonders how the hell he could seriously be mad at her right now.

But then he swallows. "It wasn't supposed to be like that, you know," he says quietly.

She tilts her head, looking up at him. "What?"

"The kiss." Her heart pounds. "It wasn't…it wasn't supposed to be like that. In front of our families and everything."

"Well, you know how our families are," she tries to laugh it off, but she can hear her heartbeat in her ears and she can barely think straight as she tries to read his face.

He shakes his head. "It wasn't supposed to be because of some fucking mistletoe or our parents pressuring us."

She swallows. "Then…how was it supposed to be?"

"Like this," he breathes, pulling on the wrist he's still holding until she's so close to him she can see the specks of gold in his eyes.

She inhales sharply in surprise, and then he's kissing her. She kisses him right back without even thinking about it, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around his neck after he lets go of her wrist to wrap his arms around her. He seems to hesitate for a second, so she parts her lips first and sure enough, he follows suit. When their tongues connect, his entire body seems to relax for a moment, as if he's been carrying this tension around with him. But almost as quickly as he relaxed, his muscles tense up again as he tightens his grip around her waist with one arm and moves his other hand to the back of her neck.

Then he takes one, two steps forward, making her step backwards until she's pressed against the door leading back into the house. He leans down more and kisses her harder, like he's on some sort of time crunch and can't get enough before that time runs out, but then he pulls away. For a few seconds, they stand in silence, foreheads pressed together, eyes closed, ragged breaths intermingling with one another.

Then, right as she's about to ask the first of a million questions she has and then tell him to kiss her again and never stop, he moves his hand from the back of her neck to her cheek and lifts his forehead off of hers. He puts his thumb under her jaw and tilts her head up slowly as their breathing starts calming down. She's about to open her eyes to look at him, like she assumes he's looking at her, but then she feels his lips on the soft spot right under her jaw. She shivers and lets out a surprised, breathless laugh that she doesn't even have the brainpower to be embarrassed about.

He must mistake the surprise for hesitation, because he pulls away slightly. "Do you want me to stop?" he whispers.

"God, no."

When he starts kissing her neck again, she can _feel _the smirk playing on his lips, but she can't even find it in herself to care. She tilts her head back against the door to expose more of her neck to him and even pulls on his hair a little when he gets down to her collarbone, exposed by the loose sweater hanging off her shoulder. So he stays there, probably creating a hickey that she'll have to cover up (although, since it's winter, she isn't too worried about it). Then, as he makes his way slowly, agonizingly, back up her neck, he hits another sensitive spot.

"You're good at this," she sighs breathlessly.

He doesn't take his mouth off her skin, but she feels him smirk again, and it's so frustratingly _hot_ that she wants to wipe it right off his face. Preferably with her mouth.

When he does kiss her lips again, it's the lightest brush of his lips against hers before he pulls away completely. He lets go of her and her arms fall to her sides, but she feels him rest his hands on either side of her head. She also feels him watching her as she stands there, eyes still closed, cheeks probably flushed, with her face still tilted up towards him as if she's anticipating him doing it again. She forces herself to calm her breathing a little before opening her eyes to finally look at him.

His lips are a little swollen and tinted red from her lipstick. His cheeks are flushed too, and his eyes are darker than she's ever seen them. They stand there, breathing in sync, staring at each other and taking in what just happened, longer than they probably should.

"Well, _fuck_," he whispers.

She laughs a little, and then he laughs a little too, and she's pretty sure it's because neither of them knows what to do now and they're both kinda freaking out. He glances down, and then he moves one of his hands to fix her sweater so it covers her collarbone, and she hates the satisfied look he gets on his face when he does it.

"What now?" she asks him quietly.

"Now," he exhales, as if he's just realizing himself that they have to go on with their lives after this moment. "Now, we go unpack the last box."

He pushes himself away from the door, away from her, and her body instantly feels ten degrees colder. She watches him pick up the box. "Are we gonna talk about this?"

"What's there to talk about?"

"Austin, this changes everything!"

"Does it? Cause it seems like Dez was just right about the tension and we released it."

"So, we just go back to normal," she says incredulously.

"Sure," he replies with a shrug.

Her jaw drops, and she watches him open the door and go right back into the house as if nothing happened. _Is he serious right now?_

* * *

At school the next day, she still can't get the events of last night out of her mind. She's so distracted that she accidentally locks her phone in her locker, and Trish has to snap in her face to get her back down to Earth.

"Hey, you okay?" Trish asks.

"Huh?" Ally says. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Just…tired."

"Oh," Trish says. "Well, I was just asking you where you got that scarf. It's really cute. Is it new?"

"No," Ally replies, and she can almost _hear _Austin smirking at his locker behind her. "I just…haven't worn it much since I got it for Christmas last year."

"Who gave it to you?" Trish asks.

"Um…" Ally looks down at the scarf, and then she almost immediately feels like passing out when she remembers where she got it. "Mimi. Austin's mom gave it to me," she says through gritted teeth.

Austin snorts and tries to cover it with a cough, and Trish looks at him around Ally. "What's your damage, Austin?"

"I just…think it's funny that Ally wants my mom's hand-me-downs," he says after clearing his throat.

"Your mom has good style," Trish replies with a shrug. "Besides, it must be nice for her, since she doesn't have any daughters."

"Mmhm. Anyway, I should get to class. See you guys later."

Ally doesn't breathe until he walks away, when she finally exhales.

"What, you can't breathe the same air as him now?" Trish asks, rolling her eyes.

Ally immediately thinks back to how she was literally breathing his air after their kiss last night, when they just stood there staring at each other. And then he went and acted like nothing ever happened for the rest of the night, and now today, too.

She doesn't know why she's surprised; it's _Austin_. Stuff like that means nothing to him, despite everything he said before he kissed her.

But really, it should mean nothing to her, too, since she's supposed to hate him. (_Yeah, right_.)

"No," she finally responds to Trish. "I'm just…trying to be the bigger person by not reacting to him."

"Oh," Trish says. "Well, that's actually kinda mature of you."

"Thanks."

In every single class that he's in with her, she catches him looking at her. Granted, he catches her looking at him too, but she'd rather not think about that. Lunch is the worst part of the day, because she has to sit facing him and she can't just stare down at her food the whole time, no matter how much she wants to. Plus, that's when her scarf starts bothering her, and he can clearly tell.

But then, as she starts walking home from school, Austin catches up with her. For the first time ever, he actually walks home with her.

"What do you want," she deadpans.

"What makes you think I want something?" he asks immediately as she scratches at her neck yet again.

"You wouldn't be willingly spending time with me unless you wanted something." Finally, she gets frustrated and just takes the scarf off, scratching everywhere it was touching.

"That's not true," he says.

"It is true, but if you need more explanation, you haven't brought up the hickey or the scarf yet, which means you're trying not to piss me off, which you would only do if you wanted something."

"Fair point," he concedes. "So, look, since I'm eighteen, my mom wants me to go to her company's fancy Christmas party at some fancy hotel on Saturday, and she wants me to bring a date."

"So, why don't you invite an actual date?"

He rolls his eyes. "Because you already know my mom, and she loves you. She _really _implied that she wants me to bring you. And I actually _know _you, since I've only really flirted and hooked up with the other girls I could bring."

"What happened to hating me?" she asks.

"What?"

She looks over at him, and his eyebrows are scrunched together. He actually looks _confused_.

"What do you mean, '_What_?'" she asks him. "You've hated me practically since we met."

"I never hated you."

She stops walking, and so does he. He still looks confused. "What are you talking about?" she asks him. "We can't stand each other. We bicker and argue and insult each other all the time."

"Yeah, we bicker and tease each other, but I only get annoyed because you're actually mean to me."

"Yeah, because you hate me. Why should I be nice to you?"

"I don't hate you, though," he says again.

"You blew me off as soon as school started freshman year," she reminds him. "I wasn't cool enough for you."

He knits his eyebrows again, and then his eyes widen in understanding. "Oh."

"Oh?"

"Look, don't worry about all that, okay? What matters is that I don't hate you, _clearly_—" he gestures to the hickey on her neck, and she narrows her eyes in annoyance— "and I really need you to come with me to this Christmas party. If not for me, then do it for my mom."

She crosses her arms. "Fine. For your mom."

He gives her a half-smirk, half-smile. "Thank you, Ally," he sing-songs, and she resists the urge to smack him.

* * *

"Is that your prom dress from last year?" Austin asks her as she gets into his car on Saturday night.

"Yeah. It's red and meets the party's dress code. Why, is it not up to your standards?"

"No," he says, shaking his head as he pulls out of the driveway. "I just recognized it, is all. It makes you look like a princess."

She opens her mouth, expecting to need to fire back an insult, but then she closes her mouth in surprise. "Oh. Um, thank you…?"

"I'm trying to tell you you look nice."

"I'm just not used to compliments from you. Thank you. You…look nice too."

And he really does. In dark blue pants, a white button up, and a dark blue blazer, he looks cleaned up and distinguished. Add to it the festive red tie, and he could distract her easily with just his looks alone.

At the party, they get some food and see his mom first, and she gushes over how beautiful Ally looks and how handsome Austin looks. Then she points out how Austin's tie matches Ally's dress, to which Austin responds with a reminder that the theme of the party is red and green, since it's Christmas.

Ally then loops her arm through Austin's as he leads her around to meet all of his mom's coworkers. Well, the ones he knows, anyway. And finally, when they sit down at a table and get a chance to breathe, Ally takes in just how date-y this whole thing is.

"So, I counted six out of the eight people we talked to that thought we were dating."

Austin shrugs. "You'd assume it too, wouldn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but you didn't correct them."

"Neither did you."

He looks over at her and leans towards her with that stupid smirk, and his eyes glint with silent laughter. He knows he's pissing her off, and he knows this whole thing has been killing her since their kiss the other day. But the worst of it: he knows how badly she wants him.

A slower song comes on, and he stands up and holds out his hand. "May I have this dance?"

Anything to escape that smirk. "You know I suck at dancing," she says, taking his hand and following him to the dance floor anyway.

"Good thing it's just standing and swaying," he says pointedly as he rests his other hand on her back while she puts her free hand on his shoulder.

She clears her throat and looks away from him. "You don't have to be such an asshole all the time," she mutters.

"Oh, but it's so _damn _fun," he replies with an annoyingly cute grin.

"What's gotten into you?" she asks him, shaking her head in disbelief. "You were so reserved for the past four years."

"Well, I finally decided that I don't give a fuck."

She meets his eyes again. "I thought you never did."

"In some things, yeah. But in others…" He trails off, and he's quiet for a few moments. Then he leans down until his mouth is next to her ear. "Wanna get out of here and go exploring?" he whispers.

She shivers, and she almost doesn't care that he didn't really answer her question. She nods, and the low chuckle that comes from his throat as he stands up straight again gives her goosebumps.

Still holding her hand, he leads her out of the ballroom where the party is being held and into the lobby of the hotel. A staircase catches her eye, so she tugs on his hand and they climb the stairs together.

"I didn't dislike you that first day of freshman year," he suddenly says, letting go of her hand as they climb another staircase, and then another one. "It was…a conversation I had with my dad."

She tilts her head and looks over at him. He avoids her eyes, continuing down the long hallway at the top of the stairs.

"Mom and I were talking about you. I was saying how I thought you were cute, and then my dad pulled me aside so my mom couldn't hear. He said that I was too…too good for you, that I should go for girls with more money, better social status, basically with more I could get out of them, you know?"

She frowns, but her mind is swirling with all this new information. He thought she was cute? He was gonna go for her?

"And I listened to him, because he's my dad, and I didn't wanna disappoint him by going for a girl he didn't approve of. But it really pissed me off, obviously, because the whole thing was so fucking stupid, and I guess I must've taken it out on you that day since I was frustrated that I couldn't even try to…well, you know." He sighs. "I guess it just snowballed from there, but…I'm sorry for making you think I hated you for no reason."

She swallows, still processing it all. She doesn't say anything, and they walk through a big set of double doors onto a massive balcony that juts off the side of the hotel, over the cliff it sits on, and overlooks the ocean below. They walk all the way to the railing, and she can't even appreciate the view because of everything racing through her mind right now.

"And I hope you know it's not true. What he said about you, about me being too good for you or whatever, it's not fucking true."

"I'm sorry for being mean to you all these years and hating you because I thought you hated me," she says, not looking at him.

He's quiet for a second. "I get why," he says. "You thought I hated you for absolutely no reason. I'd be mad too. I think that's why it snowballed so much, because then I kinda thought you hated me for no reason."

"What a vicious cycle," she says with a small laugh.

"It's not all bad," he says with a shrug, resting his forearms on the railing and looking down at the water. "It's kinda fun messing around with each other."

She looks over at him. "You like when I'm trying to piss you off?"

He smirks a little and looks over at her too. "You said once that I'm an attention whore and that's why I bother you all the time. You weren't completely wrong." Then the smirk fades and he moves away from the railing, so she turns around with her back to it to face where he's now standing in front of her. Then he says quietly, "And when you _wanted _me, Ally…" He shakes his head as if he's at a loss for words, and then he grabs her hand and holds it on his chest, where she can feel his heart pounding underneath.

She swallows. "Yeah. Me too."

He presses his forehead against hers. "I haven't stopped fucking thinking about it," he breathes. "I still can't."

"We should go back inside," she whispers, and everything in her is screaming at her to _shut up_. But she knows that if they start again, stopping will be ten times as hard as it was last time.

"Yeah," he says, "we should." But he makes no effort to move, so she has to be the one to gently push him away from her.

When she looks at him, he looks disappointed but not upset or discouraged. He knows her better than she thought he did, and he knows why she couldn't let them get lost in each other on that balcony. So, ever the expert at pretending nothing happened, he takes her hand, loops her arm through his, and leads them back into the party.

Mimi sees them almost immediately, and she walks over with a smile. "I'm so glad you two were able to make it," she says. "But I know how boring these things can be, especially for kids your age. I just wanted to show you what it's like, you know? You two can head home if you want. Or stay, if you're enjoying yourselves."

"We're probably gonna head home, then," Austin says coolly. "It was a nice party, though, Mom." He kisses her cheek, and Mimi smiles again.

"It was really nice," Ally adds, and Mimi squeezes her hand.

"Okay. Drive home safely. Seatbelts!"

"Yeah, yeah, Mom," Austin says, rolling his eyes. "We will."

On the drive home, Ally works to take all the bobby pins out of her hair in the mirror, more to distract herself than anything else. There are a lot of pins to find; fancy parties mean fancy hair styles.

"How many of those do you have?" he asks incredulously at a red light.

"Too many," she replies, running her fingers through her hair and pulling out two more pins.

"It looks like at least a hundred."

"It probably is."

She relaxes back into the seat, all the pins out of her hair, as Austin turns onto their street. When he parks in his driveway, they sit in silence for a full minute, both unmoving. This isn't going to be mistletoe, or being caught up in emotions. This is going to be more real than ever.

He looks over at her. "So…do you wanna come inside…?"

The uncertainty in his voice is cute, and she nods to make sure he knows that he was right about everything. Then they get out of the car and walk into his house, where she grabs his tie and pulls him into her as soon as he shuts the door behind them.

He wraps his arms around her and practically melts into the kiss, and it hits her that he's been waiting four years for this. If she's being honest, she sorta has, too.

She pulls away after a few seconds. "Sorry," she says quickly. "I knew you were gonna start talking, and…"

"You couldn't wait?" he asks her with a smirk as he sets his keys down and kicks his shoes off.

"Don't act like this is all me," she says, bending down to undo the straps on her heels and take them off. "You were ready to strip on that balcony."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"You caved first, though. Just now, I mean. So you don't get to talk."

"You caved before me, the other night."

He rolls his eyes. "You fucking piss me off, you know that?"

"You made the mistake of admitting you love it. You got nothing on me now, Moon."

"Shut the fuck up," he mutters, grabbing her hips and pulling her into another kiss.

She pushes his jacket off his shoulders and starts loosening his tie while he unzips her dress and, without disconnecting their lips, walks them to his room. He moves forwards, pushing her backwards inside, and shuts the door behind them before turning on the light.

"I swear to God, Ally…" he mutters as they pull away so she can pull his tie and his shirt over his head.

He doesn't finish the thought, but she gets the idea when, after discarding her dress, she trips over it and they fall over but he refuses to miss a beat. He braces himself on one forearm and rests the other one on her waist while she wraps both arms around his neck.

She panics when his hand moves to the waistband of her underwear, his fingertips breaching it just slightly. "Austin, Austin," she says quickly, breathlessly, placing her hands on his chest and pushing him away a little.

He looks at her, those eyes swirling but not frustrated or disappointed. His eyebrows are scrunched together, and his cheeks are rosy. He tilts his head in confusion.

"Not tonight," she says quietly.

His swirling eyes get a little clearer with understanding, and he moves his hand back up to her waist. She was expecting him to look disappointed like he did when she stopped him from kissing her on the roof, but his eyes are just sparkling the same way they have been every time she's gotten a glance.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

She shakes her head. "It's okay. I'm just…not quite _there _yet."

He sits back on his knees and offers her a hand. She frowns a little, worried that he's gonna just send her home now, but she takes his hand anyway and he helps her up.

"You okay?" he asks her softly.

"Are you done with me now that I don't wanna have sex with you yet?" she asks.

He knits his eyebrows together. "No…? I just thought the floor was probably uncomfortable for you and I was getting rugburn. Figured since we had already stopped we could just move while we were at it."

"Oh," she says, sighing in relief. "I really didn't wanna have to hate you again if you just sent me home because of that."

"Come on, Ally. It's me."

"Yeah. It's _you_. Hate to break it to you, but you're a bit of a horndog."

He thinks about it for a second. "Good point. But I'm telling you now that you could say you don't even wanna touch anyone until you're married and it wouldn't make me think of you any differently."

"Really?"

"I've been waiting for this since I met you, and until the other night I thought I'd never even have a chance. Yes, really." His eyes are sincere, and she realizes that his feelings for her must run deeper than she thought they did.

"Okay. Well…everything up until when I stopped you was good," she says.

"Then get the fuck over here," he replies, opening his arms expectantly.

As soon as she's close enough, he tightens his arms around her and falls backwards onto his bed. She gasps in surprise, but then he kisses her and she can feel the genuine smile on his face, so she just kisses him back.

Then, she pulls away and starts kissing his neck the way he did to her the other night.

"What are you doing to me?" he mutters when she stops in one place, but she knows it was more to himself than to her. "You know I'd do fucking anything for you, right?" he says, seemingly taking this opportunity to say what he hasn't been able to when his mouth has been preoccupied. "Because I would."

She sits up a little to look down at him, and he searches her eyes. He moves some of her hair behind her ear, and then trails his hand down to her shoulder, her chest, her stomach, her waist, and then stops at her hip. "You probably think I'm saying all this because you're half-naked and on top of me, and that's probably why I'm actually saying it _out loud_, to you, right now, but I swear to God it's the truth. Every time I see you, I just wanna be close to you. Do you know how fucking _impossible _it's been trying to act indifferent and trying to think of shitty insults when we're arguing?"

"It's hard to insult you, too, you know. Even when I was mad at you thinking you hated me…it wasn't easy."

"It's okay if it was," he tells her with a small smile. "And it's okay if all you want me to be is a not-quite-fuck buddy."

"That's not all I want you to be. But this is all very new, you know?"

He nods. "God, can you imagine if anyone knew about this? If our _parents _knew?"

They both laugh a little. "We'd never hear the end of it," she says. "The _I told you so's _and the questions…"

"Trish and Dez wouldn't be any better," he adds. "I'm pretty sure they already think we've been secretly fucking the whole time."

"Probably," Ally agrees. "Maybe we shouldn't, y'know, _do _anything just yet. I mean, publicly. Labels, or whatever."

"That's probably a good idea," he says, moving his thumbs in small circles on her waist. She isn't sure he even knows he's doing it, but she's having trouble thinking straight. "Figure stuff out free of anyone else trying to influence our feelings. So how do you wanna do this?"

"Why don't we just…take winter break, hang out, and see where we're at when school starts again?" she suggests. Then she runs a hand through her hair and sits back more. "I can't believe I'm talking relationships with you right now."

"Sounds good to me." He props himself up on his elbows and smirks at her. "Please. I know for a fact you've thought about it before."

"There's a difference between it crossing my mind once or twice and actually _being _here." She gestures to herself sitting on top of him. "And stop smiling like that."

"Why don't you make me?" She can tell he's teasing her, baiting her, and that he's loving every second of this, but she kisses him again anyway, giving him exactly what he wants.

* * *

**been feeling like writing enemies to lovers, so this entire thing was born between the hours of 10pm and 3am last night. not sure how i feel about it. it was gonna be a one-shot but it was getting too long so my christmas gift to myself (and anyone who enjoys this fic i guess) is a two-shot. anyway thanks for reading n i miss u a&a babies **


	2. Chapter 2

At school on Monday, she isn't entirely sure how to act. Yes, she and Austin agreed to keep their 'relationship' a secret, but does that mean they should be acting like they hate each other? Because she isn't sure she can do that anymore.

Austin doesn't seem to be having any trouble at all. He shuts his locker without a care in the world as she and Trish approach her locker.

"Ladies," Austin greets them with a nod. "Where's Dez?"

"Home sick," Trish replies. "Which you would know if you weren't so…_busy _over the weekend."

Ally's heart pounds as she tries to open her locker coolly. "What?" she chokes.

Trish rolls her eyes. "Ally, sweetie, that's what a _hickey _looks like." She gestures to Austin's neck. "You know what a hickey is, don't you?"

Ally swallows, while Austin not-so-subtly smirks at her. "I know what a hickey is," she says.

"So, Austin, who's the poor girl this time?"

He shakes his head. "Sorry, Trish. I don't kiss and tell."

"What are you talking about? That's all you do," Trish argues.

"We should probably get to class," Ally tries.

"We have time," Trish says. "Aren't you curious, Ally? I like to know which girls in our class are dumb enough to get caught up with this horndog. Especially when they're all over him like this one clearly was."

Ally coughs to cover up her surprise at Trish's statement, while Austin watches, way too amused for her liking. "I really don't care about Austin's love life."

"That hurts, Ally. In here," Austin says, pointing to his heart.

"So you're really not gonna tell us? Not even for bragging purposes?" Trish asks.

"Nope," Austin says, shaking his head. "Gotta have a few secrets, don't I? If it helps, Dez doesn't know, either."

"That doesn't help," Trish replies. "Whatever. I'm sure she'll be talking about it and we'll find out that way."

"Good luck with that. Now, I think Ally was saying something about getting to class, and I am nothing if not punctual."

"Shut the fuck up," Trish says, rolling her eyes. "Fine, I'll see you guys later. But I _will _find out who she is, if it's the last thing I do."

She walks off down the hall towards her class, and Ally shuts her locker as she tries to calm her heart rate.

"_Very_ smooth," Austin teases, leaning against his locker with a smirk.

"Rot in hell," she mutters through gritted teeth. She starts walking to class, and she hates that Austin's laugh as he follows her calms her down.

She has two classes with him in the morning, and she wants to kill him in both. She can _feel _him looking at her with that stupid smirk on his face while she tries to pay attention to the lessons, and Trish's words from earlier keep ringing in her head.

She isn't _dumb _for liking Austin, is she? This is different from all his other hookups. Right?

Come lunch time, Austin stops her in the hallway before she can walk to the cafeteria to meet Trish.

"Hey," he says, catching up to her and grabbing her wrist to make her look at him. "You know I was just teasing you, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you know Trish was just messing around with me, right?"

"I don't think it was all a joke," Ally says.

"Ally, come on, if she knew it was you—"

"She obviously wouldn't say that because I'm her friend. But she'd probably still be thinking it. Hell, if it wasn't _me_, I'd be thinking it about whatever girl you were hooking up with, too."

"Okay, but the difference is that it _is _you," he tells her. "We have a different relationship."

Ally crosses her arms. "Because we didn't have sex the first chance we got?"

Austin rolls his eyes. "Ally, you're arguing just to argue now."

She hates that he's right. But she isn't in the mood to get along with him right now. Not after what Trish said. Not if it's going to feel like she's letting him win. Not if she's going to feel dumb because of it.

"I just don't like feeling like an idiot," she says.

"Yeah, welcome to my world," he replies, holding up a graded test from their last class with a big 'D' written on it in red ink. He smiles at her, clearly trying for a joke, but she doesn't find it very funny. "Besides, who gives a fuck what they think?" Austin asks. "That's why we're hiding it, right? So we aren't influenced by what other people think?"

"Yeah…"

"Yeah," Austin says with a nod. "So please don't let Trish's dumb comment ruin your day, or ruin us."

Ally sighs. "You teasing me and making me feel even more like an idiot doesn't help either. Even if I know you're just messing around."

"I'm sorry," he tells her. "I'll cut it out. But you know I don't think you're dumb, right?"

She nods. "We should probably get to lunch. Before Trish gets suspicious."

Austin looks like he's about to say something else, but he decides against it and simply nods, following her when she walks to the cafeteria.

As soon as they sit down with Trish, she looks at them calmly and says, "It was Ally."

She chokes and starts coughing, and even Austin's eyes go wide. Before Ally can start spluttering, Austin asks, "What?"

"The mystery girl," Trish says. Then she looks at Ally. "It was you, wasn't it?"

"Why would you think that?" Austin says before Ally can try to deny it.

"Power of deduction," Trish tells him. "It was weird that you didn't immediately brag about your 'conquest,' especially when I was the one who brought it up. And Ally's reaction was weird. We all know she sucks at hiding things. Plus, I know you two were at that Christmas party thing together on Saturday night because I asked Ally why she couldn't hang out, and you two being mysteriously gone only to walk into the cafeteria _together _for the first time ever just confirmed it."

"Well, fuck," Austin says, leaning back in his chair.

"We didn't—" Ally tries, but Trish interrupts her.

"So I'm right?"

"I mean…I don't know how to argue with all that," Austin says.

"I do," Ally pipes up. "I was not his _'conquest_.'"

"Why didn't you _tell _me?!" Trish exclaims, turning on her.

"Hey," Austin says, "maybe we should just forget about this."

"Can it, Moon," Trish snaps at him.

"Trish, I don't want to talk about this," Ally says, stabbing her fork into the salad she brought for lunch.

"Why not?!"

"Because you think I'm dumb. Because we didn't want _anyone _to know. Because—"

"Hey, I don't think you're dumb," Trish says.

"Then what about this morning?" Ally asks her.

"Ally, you know I was just teasing Austin. I don't actually think anyone who hooks up with him is dumb. Especially not you."

Ally rolls her eyes. "You say that _now_."

"Guys, I really don't think this conversation is going anywhere good, so maybe we should all just move on…?" Austin suggests.

Ally doesn't say anything, and Trish looks at him with her eyes narrowed. "Stay out of this," she tells him.

"Trish, please just drop it," Ally says. "Austin and I kissed. It's not as big a deal as you're making it out to be."

"_You're _the ones making it into some big secret," Trish points out.

"Yeah, because we don't even know what we're doing, and our relationship has been so complicated that if people knew, they'd have questions we don't even know how to answer yet."

Trish crosses her arms. "Seems like you know exactly what you're doing."

"Trish, I don't have to tell you every little thing in my life as soon as it happens! Especially not when I know you're gonna give your input whether I want it or not!"

"I'm sorry for caring about my _best friend_," Trish says. "We don't hide things from each other."

"Well, maybe I wanted this one thing for myself." Ally stands up from the table, her appetite gone, and throws her food away. "Without you worming your way in and trying to analyze every little detail to figure out _whatever _it is you think is going on and try to convince me of something you know nothing about."

"Ally—"

Ally walks away before Trish has a chance to say anything back. Logically, she knows that all of the stress and emotions she's been feeling today have built up and she was just taking them out on Trish, but for now she's seeing red.

She hears Austin say, "Stay here," and then she can feel him following her out of the cafeteria.

"What," she snaps once they're outside, not stopping.

"So…what was that?" he asks her. She expects him to be accusatory, or angry, or even to tease her. What she doesn't expect is for him to talk to her calmly, with concern in his voice as he keeps up with her quick pace to a corner of the courtyard where there aren't any people around.

"I'm sick of Trish trying to live my life for me."

"I don't think that's what she was trying to do." Once they stop and she finally faces him, he shoves his hands in his pockets and tilts his head at her, his eyes soft.

"Thanks for the input," she says.

"You usually tell her everything," Austin says. "And you know that this _is _a big deal, especially to her, because she knows how we've been for the past four years and you're her best friend."

"Did I ask you to analyze Trish's feelings?" she asks him.

"No." He's still so calm, and not even a flash of annoyance crosses his eyes. She needs him to _react_, needs him to stop looking at her like that, because it's getting harder and harder for her to stay angry without anyone to fuel the fire. "But you already know everything I just told you, so I just said it out loud because I know you won't."

"I didn't ask you to do that either," she says, clenching her hands into fists at her sides. "Or to follow me, for that matter."

"I figured you could just take the rest of this out on me, since I'm the problem more than Trish is."

"Not everything is about you, you know."

"I know. And I don't think this is about me. But it's kinda hard to blame your own feelings, so I thought I might be an easier target."

She meets his eyes. "What do you want, Austin? Do you want me to yell at you, give you the attention you need, argue with you so you can play your fun little game?"

He shakes his head wordlessly, and the anger she's desperately trying to hang on to continues to dissipate as he watches her with those eyes void of judgment and full of _care_.

"Because I'm not giving that to you," she continues when he doesn't say anything. "So you can just run back inside and tell Trish, tell _everyone _whatever you want because clearly I can't handle this on my own." He still doesn't say anything, so she keeps going. "I need everyone else to tell me what choices to make and how to live my own life because I don't know enough about _anything_ to make my own decisions and understand my own feelings, right? Especially not when it comes to _you_."

"Ally," Austin sighs. "Nobody thinks that."

Ally crosses her arms. "You don't know that."

"Yes I do. Trish is your best friend. She cares about you and your life."

"Doesn't mean I have to just be okay with her trying to live my life for me," Ally says.

"I really don't think she is. Especially now that she knows you and I have a thing." He shoots her a smile and nudges her with his elbow, and she rolls her eyes. As much as she tries to stay angry, she can't fight the tiny smile that makes its way onto her face.

"Shut up," she mutters, shoving his chest as he grins victoriously.

"Let's go back inside and make up with Trish."

* * *

The first day of winter break, she's snuggled in next to him in his bed after a long day hanging out with Trish and Dez and pretending (because Dez still doesn't know) their relationship hasn't turned upside down. They went ice skating and built gingerbread houses and made Christmas cookies because that's what they do every year. The only difference this year was that their bickering was a lot more flirtatious than it used to be, and Trish kept pretending not to notice. Dez, being sweet and oblivious, didn't seem to have a clue, but it was exhausting nonetheless.

So when Trish and Dez finally leave Austin's at midnight, after Mimi and Max have already gone to bed, Ally immediately accepts Austin's invitation to just sleep here. The less standing between her and a bed, the better.

Plus, she'd never turn down using the soft spot between his shoulder and his chest as a pillow. Or him rubbing soft circles with his thumb on the exposed skin between where the t-shirt she's borrowing from him is riding up and the waistband of her underwear. Or glancing at the muscles on his free arm, which he has bent with his hand behind his head. Or…well, you get the point.

She pats his chest where her hand is resting on it. "This is definitely not a Christmas movie," she whispers to him as they stare at his TV.

"_Die Hard _is absolutely a Christmas movie," he whispers back. "Now shh, I can't hear."

"Did you just shush me?"

"Mmm." Not a yes or a no, but he does tilt his chin down and kiss the top of her head.

"Well, _I'm _going to sleep," she whispers, shifting under the covers and moving her leg on top of his. Then she moves her hand off his chest and drapes her arm over his stomach, snuggles a little closer to him, and closes her eyes.

"Comfy?" he asks when she stops moving. She hears the amusement in his voice.

"Mmhm. Goodnight."

She feels the shift of his muscles as he shakes his head and chuckles. "Night, Ally."

He moves his hand from her waist farther up her back under her shirt and scratches her skin lightly. She sighs as her body relaxes, but her mind is way too awake to let her fall asleep.

All she can think about is how this isn't technically _real_. Yes, it's actually happening, but this is more just a trial run to see if they _want _to have something real. Now that she knows what she could have, she can't even think about what'll happen if the end of winter break comes and they're on different pages.

She tightens her arm around him, as if that might ensure that they can stay like this forever. His chin brushes against the top of her head as he looks down at her. But when she doesn't say anything, she feels his head move again as he goes back to watching the movie.

After a while, she's still nowhere near falling asleep as every possible worst-case scenario flashes through her mind. She sees him realizing that he never actually had feelings for her in the first place, only a physical attraction that fizzles once he's had enough. She sees him getting frustrated when she still isn't ready to have sex with him and leaving her for someone who is. She sees them going back to school in January and him realizing that he doesn't want to be tied down to one girl. She sees a million ways this could go wrong, and she wonders if maybe Trish was right about her being dumb for falling for him.

She sighs in frustration, tilts her head up, and starts kissing his neck, if nothing else then to distract herself from her intrusive thoughts. He tenses up in surprise, his hand flattening against her back.

"Whoa, hey. I knew you weren't asleep, but—_oh_…kay," he says, his voice changing a little when she hits a sensitive spot and stays there. "Ally…? Everything okay?"

"Mmhm," she says against his skin as she moves up to his jaw.

"Okay, it's just…you said you were going to sleep and I'm worried you got in your head again."

She props her arm on his chest and presses her lips to his, and he doesn't hesitate to shut up and kiss her back. He moves his hand out from behind his head and wraps his arm around her before flipping them both over so he's bracing himself on top of her.

The voice in her head telling her all the ways things could go wrong with him still doesn't shut up, so she starts trying to tug his shirt over his head as if that might help. He sits up and tosses it to the floor before leaning back over her again, but he hesitates, his face inches away from hers.

"Ally, why don't we both just go to sleep?" he whispers, his breath tickling her lips.

"Why?"

"Because I can tell something's bothering you and sleep will help more than making out with me will."

"You've never rejected me before."

"You've never come onto me in order to avoid your problems before."

"You have no business acting like you know me so well."

"But I do know you well."

Before she can argue, he presses a gentle kiss to her lips. "Go to sleep," he tells her, and then he rolls off of her, turns off the TV, and pulls her into him until her back is against his chest.

She hates when he's right, but she already does feel better just feeling how tightly he's holding her, how close he wants her. His lips brush against the back of her neck as he buries his face in her hair and takes a deep breath, and she feels his body relax. She feels herself start to relax, too.

"If you wanna talk about it, I'll be here," he says quietly, and then kisses the back of her neck where his lips are already touching. "Whenever you need me."

She wonders if he means that, or if that offer will disappear if he ultimately decides he doesn't want to be with her. She shivers, and he must think it's because of the cold because he pulls her legs between his.

"You should really wear pants," he teases her.

"I'll remember that next time I spontaneously decide to sleep here."

"You could've worn mine."

"Give me some and I'll wear them. But not tonight, because I'm not getting out of bed."

"Next time," he says, smiling against her neck.

"Next time," she agrees.

* * *

The next day, three days before Christmas, her parents drop a bombshell on her.

"Surprise!" her mom exclaims, presenting three plane tickets. "For Christmas this year, we're going to a ski resort in Colorado for a week with the Moons! And we leave tomorrow, so get to packing!"

Ally blinks once, twice, three times. Constant close proximity to Austin (well, closer than their houses being right next door to each other) with their families breathing down their necks the whole time. They haven't hung out together with their families since the night they decorated the Christmas tree, and it'll be a lot harder to hide their semi-relationship from them than from their friends. Especially not when her Christmas gift for him is an expensive leather jacket he's been wanting, and she doesn't know how to explain why she went from buying him nothing to spending so much on him.

"Oh, wow!" she says, feigning excitement. "How fun!"

Her mother sighs and sits next to her on the couch. "Look, honey, I know you and Austin don't really get along. But could you at least _try _for this trip? As a Christmas present to us and Mimi."

Ally swallows. "I mean…I'll try. I don't know about Austin, though."

Her mom chuckles. "I'm sure he'll try if you do."

As soon as her mom walks away, Ally sprints up to her room and calls Austin.

"Has your mom told you yet?" she asks as soon as he answers the phone.

"About what?"

"The ski trip."

"Oh, that? Yeah, she told me and Max this morning. It was almost right after you left."

"How are you so calm about this?" she asks him.

"What do you mean? It'll be fun," he says. "Especially seeing you fall on your ass every five minutes."

She clenches her jaw in frustration. "Austin! They're gonna find out about us!"

"Nah," he says. "You wanna know what's gonna happen? We'll probably be sent off alone while your parents hang out with my mom, and we can do whatever we want with no one knowing."

"What about Max?" she asks him.

"He'll probably be with my mom the whole time so she can keep an eye on him. Ally, take a breath and think about it. We've been on vacations together before, and every time you and I get stuck hanging out alone while our parents do their own thing. I mean, sometimes we get Max too, but I doubt my mom will wanna leave us in charge of him doing something like skiing," he tells her calmly.

She hesitates. He's not wrong. "Well…what about when our families are together?"

"I think we can manage. And if it's that difficult, I promise to piss you off right before we see them so it can be authentic."

She can hear the teasing smirk in his voice. "Piss me off like you're doing right now?"

"Exactly!"

"Screw you."

"C'mon, Ally, you know you're blowing this out of proportion. And besides, would it really be so bad if they found out?"

She hesitates. She already knows she wants to be with him, and that question seems to imply that he knows he wants to be with her. But she isn't exactly keen on spending her Christmas answering their parents' intrusive questions and listening to her dad give them both the sex talk.

When she doesn't say anything for a few seconds, Austin sighs. "Just try to remember that this trip is supposed to be _fun_. And don't forget to pack pants," he teases her.

"Dumbass," she tells him.

"Ouch," he says with fake seriousness. "I'm wounded. Talk to you later, okay?"

She sighs. "Yeah, okay. Bye."

When she hangs up, she collapses backwards on her bed. She knows he's right, but that doesn't help her stress levels. If she had known that this relationship test-run was going to be this painful and difficult, she wouldn't have suggested it.

He said he'd talk to her later, but they don't actually talk again until they meet up at the airport the next morning and get sent on a Starbucks breakfast mission by their parents. Of course, the line is about a mile long, and Ally is about ready to jump out of a plane without a parachute because she is _not _a morning person.

"Who poured orange juice in your cereal?" Austin asks her when she crosses her arms impatiently after a few minutes.

She shoots him a glare, and he raises his eyebrows and laughs a little, which makes her even more annoyed with him, which makes him laugh more. It's a cycle almost as vicious as the one where they hated each other _for _hating each other.

"Not a morning person," he notes, and then he drapes his arms over her shoulders and pulls her back into him, resting his chin on top of her head. "You can sleep on the plane, you know."

Her annoyance with him dissipates as the comforting warmth of his arms and body engulfs her, and she closes her eyes. His chest moves as if he's taking a breath to say something, but then he decides against it and stays silent. Then he pushes her forward a little as the line moves up, but he keeps his arms around her.

"You keep knowing exactly what to say and do when I'm stressed or angry or in a bad mood," she tells him. "It's really annoying."

She likes the way his chest vibrates against her back as he laughs. "I'm sorry I know you better than you thought I did. Not gonna stop doing it, though."

"Good," she says. "I don't want you to."

By the time they bring the food and coffee back to their families, they barely have time to eat it before they board the plane. And just like on their other vacations, the kids get stuck together in one row while the parents sit in a different row. This time, though, the parents end up closer to the front of the plane, and Max insists on a window seat next to the wing.

"Hope the plane doesn't crash," Max says absently, staring out the window when the plane starts to taxi towards the runway.

"That's a weird thing to say," Ally says, leaning forward to see Max over Austin in the middle seat.

Max shrugs. "Kids say weird things."

Austin laughs a little. "Well, I'm glad you're so self-aware."

Max doesn't respond to that, and he puts headphones in and falls asleep before the plane is even off the ground. Austin waves his hand in front of Max's eyes a few times to see if he's actually asleep, but Max doesn't stir.

"That kid can sleep anywhere," Ally says, leaning back in her seat.

"It's a gift," Austin agrees. "You should get some sleep too, since you're so grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy," Ally argues.

"You're right," Austin says. "You're _very _grumpy."

"Go to hell," she says, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I'll meet you there." Ally rolls her eyes, and Austin grins. "If you aren't there in the first place, you'll come down after two days because you'll miss me so much."

"Shut up." She shoves his shoulder. "I don't even like you that much."

"If you lie like that, you really will go to hell. It's a sin, you know."

"You piss me off."

"It's part of my charm."

He's grinning down at her, clearly loving every second of this. It's probably a good thing that he does, though, since they bicker so much. But if she wasn't so tired, she'd probably be loving it, too.

She huffs in frustration and crosses her arms, leaning her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. He kisses the top of her head, and she can feel the smile still on his face.

"Sweet dreams, Ally."

He rests his cheek on her head, and she drifts off to sleep.

* * *

On Christmas Day, Austin and Ally manage to get some time alone together when Max and all three parents want to go skiing. The two of them promise to head out later, but everyone got up early to open presents and, as teenagers who never sleep, they really are both planning on napping for a while.

But first, Austin knocks on the door of the Dawsons' hotel room, and Ally opens it immediately.

"What's up?" he asks her, walking into the room with his hands not-so-subtly hidden behind his back.

She smiles at him and, for his sake, pretends not to realize he obviously brought something for her. "Merry Christmas," she says, picking up the gift bag on her bed and handing it to him.

He raises his eyebrows, a grin breaking out on his face as he takes the bag with one hand. "You didn't have to get me anything, Ally."

"I wanted to."

"Well, I got you something, too."

He produces a smaller gift bag from behind his back and gives it to her. She takes it and looks at him warily.

"If this is lingerie, I swear to God I'll strangle you with it."

"Kinky." He laughs at her reaction, which makes her laugh, too. "I promise it's nothing like that. Open it!"

"You first," she tells him.

"Same time?"

Ally nods, and they open their gifts together. Inside her gift bag is a small box, which she opens and finds a gold bar necklace with her name engraved on it.

"You got me the jacket?" Austin asks, and when she looks up at him, he's grinning even wider and already trying it on. "Thank you!" He leans over and hugs her tightly, and she smiles and hugs him back.

"You're welcome," she says when they pull away. "And thank _you_. It's beautiful, Austin."

Now the grin fades into a sheepish smile as he shrugs. "I'm glad you like it."

She smiles and kisses his cheek. "Now, can we actually nap? I'm really tired."

Before she pulls away completely, he turns his head and bumps his nose against hers. "We could," he says quietly. "Or…"

She closes her eyes, smiling slightly. "Or…?"

He leans forward until his lips just barely brush against hers, but then he pulls all the way back and sighs loudly. "No, you're right, we should probably sleep."

"We can sleep when we're dead," Ally says.

He smirks at her. "I thought you were tired."

"Not anymore."

"Eager."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Am not."

"Okay. Then let's get you some sleep so you aren't tired _and _cold on the slopes. That'd be miserable for everyone." He lays down on his back, his hands behind his head, and closes his eyes with that stupid smirk on his face.

"It's Christmas, asshole," she says.

"Can't hear you. I'm napping."

She exhales in frustration. Why does he have to be so _difficult_? She knows he's just messing with her, and that she's giving him exactly what he wants, but they don't have much time to be alone together on this trip and he's completely _wasting _it.

She crawls on top of him, her nose almost touching his. He doesn't even have the decency to open his eyes, but that smirk on his face grows. Then he starts fake snoring.

She sighs again and sits up, crossing her arms. "Are you serious?" she asks him. "You're wasting our precious alone time just to piss me off."

"Bold of you to assume pissing you off is a waste of time," he hums, that ridiculous smirk practically taking up his whole face.

"You know, I'm starting to remember why I hated you all these years."

"Are you, now?" he asks, completely unbothered by the comment. He does open his eyes though, only to look at her with an amused expression.

She wishes he kept his eyes closed.

"Yeah, I am. I hope you don't think pissing me off like this is making me want you more, because it's doing just the opposite."

"Really?" he asks, sitting up a little and propping himself up on his elbows. "Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like you're on top of me, begging me to give you attention." His eyes glint in a way that makes her want to both smack him and rip his clothes off.

"Well…you started it!"

"'You started it'? Ally, I thought you were better than this."

"Oh…fuck off." She gets off of him and lays next to him, glaring at the ceiling, while he laughs beside her.

"Ally Dawson cursing? I must _really _piss you off."

She feels him shift onto his side to face her, and she crosses her arms again, refusing to give him the satisfaction of even looking at him.

"Yeah. You do."

"Aw. I'm sorry."

When he leans over and starts kissing her neck, she knows he's got her exactly where he wants her. But more importantly, she knows that she doesn't really mind it, because he's exactly where she wants him, too. And honestly, she just wants him _here_, whether that be pissing her off and teasing her about it or sucking at the skin on the sensitive part of her neck like he's doing now.

She closes her eyes and exhales, tilting her head away from him to expose more of her neck, a silent concession to him. He won this round. But she really doesn't care.

He smirks again, his lips still trailing kisses up her neck, and he uses one arm to grab her waist and pull her into him. When he reaches her lips, she sits up a little to deepen the kiss immediately, which makes him laugh and pull away. When she looks at him to pout, his eyes are sparkling.

"This is the best Christmas present you could've gotten me," he says.

"What is?" She frowns at him, and he grazes his fingertips over her cheek.

"Wanting me."

"Okay, I get it, me wanting you turns you on. If I say I want you will you stop ruining the moment?"

He laughs again, and she can't keep pouting after that. He sounds so genuinely happy, she could listen to him laugh like that forever. He cups her cheek and kisses her softly.

"That's not what I meant," he says quietly after pulling away _again_. "Although you're right." He pecks her lips again, and she can feel him smiling. "Ally, you know how I feel about you. I never imagined you'd ever _know_, much less feel the same way."

Is he admitting he _likes _her? And is he implying that he thinks _she _likes _him_? He's right, of course, but she was sure she was doing a good job of hiding it. Although looking back on it, she isn't sure why she was trying so hard.

"You were even _more _annoyed with my existence after we kissed than before," he explains, as if he can read her mind. "But I know you, and I know you wouldn't keep coming back and spending time with me if you didn't want to, so I used my big brain and realized you're just _majorly _overcompensating."

He kisses her again, as if that'll soften the blow.

"_You're _overcompensating," she mutters grumpily, which makes him laugh again. Her mouth curves into a small, involuntary smile at the sound.

"I really like you, Ally," he says, kissing the corner of her mouth. "And no matter how hard it is for you to admit it…" He kisses the other corner of her mouth. "I'm not gonna leave you alone until you _honestly _tell me how you feel about me."

"Joke's on you," she tells him, meeting his eyes. "Maybe I don't want you to leave me alone."

He sighs and sits up, pulling on her hands so she sits up with him. Then he leans back against the headboard and pulls her back by her waist before draping an arm over her shoulders and pulling her into his side.

"These things tend to be easier when you don't have to look at the person you're admitting your deep, dark secret to," he says. "Although it's not really a deep, dark secret. Or a secret at all."

She sighs too and leans into his shoulder, closing her eyes. "I thought you hated me for three and a half years. I keep thinking I'm gonna wake up and this'll all be some really weird dream, and it'll turn out that you really do hate me."

He pinches her arm. "There. See? Not dreaming. Besides, if this was a dream, we would've had sex already."

"You're not helping," she tells him, although her laugh betrays her words.

"Sorry. I'll shut up." He kisses the top of her head and then rests his cheek against it, and she imagines him staring at whatever random objects in the hotel room are in his line of vision as he waits for her to speak up again.

"I just worry that all this…with you, isn't real. That if this isn't a dream, maybe you'll wake up one day and realize that you never had feelings for me and it was all just sexual attraction or something and things will go back to the way they were. And I _can't _go back to the way things were."

He doesn't say anything, and she wonders if it's because he isn't sure how to respond or if he's just waiting for her to keep talking. But he draws soft, reassuring circles on her shoulder with his thumb, and she finds herself feeling less and less skeptical of the whole thing the more time she spends just sitting here with him.

"I like you," she finally says, although it comes out a bit rushed and panicked. She takes a deep breath and lifts her head to look at him, and this time he looks at her without any smirk or amusement in his eyes. "I like you," she says again, slower this time, calmer.

His face softens, as if even though he said he knew she liked him, he wasn't really sure of it until she said it out loud. She smiles a little.

He presses another soft kiss to her lips, and then pulls away. She's about to get irritated at him, but he pulls her onto his lap and wraps his arms tightly around her before kissing her deeper, so she decides to forgive him.

* * *

By the time New Year's rolls around, they still haven't figured out how to tell their families and Dez that they're together. So they've continued to hide it, but now, it somehow feels more _real. _Everything is out on the table, and she's pretty sure they've come to a silent understanding that they're definitely going to be on the same page by the end of winter break.

But tonight is the annual New Year's Eve party at the Moons', where the entire neighborhood (plus Trish and Dez) comes over, gets drunk, and counts down to midnight. And since it's such a huge party, Ally's family always helps to prepare for it.

"Austin, Max, the Dawsons are here!" she hears Mimi call before she opens the door to greet them when they arrive. "Thanks for coming to help out!" she says cheerily, even though this has been a tradition for the past four years.

"Of course," Ally's mom says, giving Mimi a hug and walking inside.

Mimi hugs Ally's father and Ally as well before shutting the door behind them and following them inside the house.

"Where are the boys?" Ally's mom asks.

"I told them to come down, but they're caught up in one of the video games Max got for Christmas. Ally, honey, would you go see if you can get them to come help? Unplug the TV if necessary," Mimi says.

Ally laughs a little. "Yes, ma'am."

While the parents get situated to start making all the food for tonight in the kitchen, Ally walks to Max's room. She can hear the sounds of the game and Austin and Max yelling at each other even through the closed door.

She knocks twice and opens it, but the boys must not hear her because they're still fully engrossed in the game, facing the TV with their backs to her. She crosses her arms, trying to think of the best way to scare them while they continue yelling at each other and the TV. She also takes this time to admire how cute it is that Austin gets so into playing games with his little brother. She's always appreciated the way Austin is with Max, even when she and Austin 'hated' each other. He's always been sweet and supportive towards Max, and he genuinely seems to like spending time with him, even though they have an eleven-year age difference. She supposes that since their father left, that bond has become more important to both of them than ever.

"_Hey_!" she finally yells over the noise of the game and their yelling.

Both of them yelp in surprise and jump, dropping their controllers and turning to look at her.  
"Ally!" Max whines. "That was mean. And we're playing a game!"

"Your mom said it's time to reenter the land of the living and help set up for the party," Ally tells him.

"I'm only seven! I can't help!"

"She said by any means necessary."

"Any means necessary, hmm?" Austin says, raising his eyebrows.

She reaches over to smack his shoulder and he laughs. Max sighs and turns off the game.

"I won," he says.

"Did not," Austin argues.

"Did too! I get extra points because I'm little."

Austin rolls his eyes. "You do _not _get extra points."

"Yes I do! To make it fair!"

"Guys?" Ally interrupts before Austin can argue back. "It's a game. Let's go."

"But—" Max tries to continue, but this time Austin cuts him off.

"No, Ally's right. We should help Mom. You go ask her what you can do, and me and Ally will start putting up the decorations outside."

"Fine," Max grumbles, crossing his arms. Then he looks up at them with a mischievous smile. "But you better be careful, in case there's still mistletoe out there."

"I think we took all of it down," Austin says. "But if not, maybe you can bring some when you go back to school for _Mia_."

"Gross!" Max exclaims, scrunching up his face and then running out of the room.

"Ah, to be young and believe in cooties," Austin sighs, draping an arm over Ally's shoulders.

"Bold of you to assume you don't still have cooties," Ally says, shrugging his arm off her.

Austin laughs as they leave Max's room. "Hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but if I have cooties, they've _definitely _spread to you."

She whacks his shoulder lightly, following him to the garage. He laughs.

"You know, the last time we were in a garage like this, you—"

"_You_," she corrects him.

"—kissed me for the first time." He scrunches his eyebrows together. "_I_ kissed me? Ally, that doesn't make any sense. _You _kissed me. Remember? The _desire_ was just building up inside you for so long until you _just couldn't take it anymore_," he says dramatically, his hand over his heart. Then he drops his arms to his sides, looks at her, and matter-of-factly says, "And then you jumped me like a die-hard One Direction fan would jump Harry Styles."

She rolls her eyes. "Yep, you're right. That's exactly how it happened," she deadpans.

"It's very mature of you to admit that," he says with a nod. "Thank you."

She narrows her eyes at him and shakes her head, but he simply grins back at her. Then he opens the garage and pushes a cart with folding tables on it into the driveway. She follows him with a cart of folding chairs through the gate to the backyard.

"You are incredibly annoying sometimes," she tells him as they start setting up the tables and chairs in the grass. "Actually, scratch that. It's all the time."

"Ally, you're doing it again," he sing-songs.

"Doing what again?"

"Overcompensating."

She frowns, and then she realizes that he's definitely right and she didn't even know she was doing it. Has she even said one nice thing to him since she got here?

"You know you don't need to do that anymore, Ally," he tells her. "I know you like me," he whispers loudly, as if it's a secret, with a grin and a wink.

"Sorry," she says as they start on their second set of a table and four chairs.

He shrugs. "It's okay. Just figured I'd point it out, since you don't seem to realize you're doing it."

"You're _very _patient with me," she notes.

"It's taking a little longer for you to get used to this," he says. "Plus, I know you _do_ like me, _a lot_, so it doesn't really bother me."

"Whoa, I never said—" she starts, but then he raises his eyebrows at her. She stops and clears her throat. "Right." Then she sighs. "I haven't told you how much I appreciate you, have I?"

He shrugs again, a small smile on his face. "You don't have to. I know you do. And you show it in your own way." She tilts her head, and he chuckles a little. "You're very easy to read, Ally. Whenever you're thinking about me, you always hug me a little tighter or squeeze my hand or anything like that. I know you like being with me."

"I _do_ appreciate you," she tells him anyway. "A lot. And I don't think you're annoying. I just get frustrated because I love everything you say and do, even when you're teasing me or we're bickering and you're winning. But I know I shouldn't be frustrated about it, and I especiallyshouldn't be taking it out on you, so I'm sorry. And thank you for being so…"

"Hot? Sexy?"

She rolls her eyes. "_Sweet_. But those, too."

He smiles at her, and it's one of his genuine, non-teasing ones, even though he was just teasing her a second ago. She can't help but smile, too. Any time he looks that happy, she gets a warm feeling in her chest that she never wants to go away. "Ally, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. And it's the longest string of non-bickering sentences you've ever said to me. Thank you. And you're welcome, for being so sweet and hot and sexy."

She smiles more, despite his teasing, mostly because of what she's about to say next. "And you're right. I do like you, _a lot_."

His face gets brighter, and his smile grows. "Yeah, I know you do. I like you a lot, too. And I like when I make you smile."

This cute, affectionate, almost _innocent _side of him has been coming out more and more in the time they've spent together, and she likes to think that this is 'boyfriend Austin.' She quite likes it.

Later that night, when the party is in full swing, she and Austin are inseparable. It isn't any different than it has been since they kissed in that regard, but they hardly bicker at all. Even Dez takes notice.

"Are you guys feeling okay?" he asks as they head to the living room a few minutes before the countdown. "You're…_smiling _at each other."

"New year, new us," Austin says with a shrug.

"I hate when people say that," Trish says, rolling her eyes.

"So you guys don't hate each other anymore? After three and a half years?" Dez asks incredulously. "Just like that?"

"I dunno," Austin says, draping his arm around Ally's shoulders and looking down at her. "Do you hate me?"

She smiles up at him, at his sparkling eyes and that dumb smile on his face, and shakes her head. "I don't hate you."

"Good. I don't hate you either."

She knows they must be looking at each other with the gooiest smiles the world has ever seen, but she doesn't care. And it doesn't seem like he cares, either.

"Ugh," Trish groans. "This is gross."

"What's gross?" Dez asks obliviously.

Before anyone can answer, Mimi speaks up over the crowd of people talking in the room. "The countdown is about to start!"

As everyone starts chanting, Austin raises his eyebrows at Ally. She mimics his expression. No better way to tell everyone than to just _show _them, right?

"Five!" they chant.

"Hey," he says to her. "I know we said we should wait until school starts, but how would you feel about just cutting the bullshit and being my girlfriend already?"

She grins up at him. "God, yes. I thought you'd never ask."

"Two! One! _Happy New Year_!" everyone cheers.

He moves his arm off her shoulders and wraps both arms around her waist, kissing her for the first time as her _boyfriend_. She wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him back immediately, although they're both smiling like idiots, so it doesn't go very well.

"_What_?!" Dez exclaims when they pull away. Meanwhile, Trish downs a glass of champagne.

"Surprise…?" Austin says. "We're—"

"Did you just _kiss_ again? With no mistletoe?!" Max interrupts, pushing in between Trish and Dez to look up at Austin and Ally.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Austin asks.

"No! It's New Year's!" Max exclaims. Then he grins and runs into the kitchen, but before Austin or Ally can say anything else, he comes back with their parents.

"They just kissed with _no mistletoe_!" Max tells them.

"Someone's a little _snitch_," Austin says, but Max just laughs.

"What's going on?" Mimi asks.

"Okay, I guess this is happening," Austin says, taking a deep breath. "It feels really weird just _announcing _it like this, but here goes—"

"You always make things so much more painful than they need to be," Ally interrupts him. Then she looks at their parents. "We're dating." She holds up their intertwined hands to prove her point. "Please, no questions until at _least _tomorrow."

Max, their parents, and Dez all blink a few times, but none of them look all that surprised.

"You made it official?" Trish asks.

"Did you not just hear me ask her?" Austin raises his eyebrows.

"I was doing the countdown." Trish shrugs. "Well, congrats."

"I knew it," Dez says.

"No you didn't." Ally rolls her eyes at him.

"I knew about the sexual tension," he argues.

"Mom, what's sexual tension?" Max asks.

"And I think that's our cue to put you to bed!" Mimi replies. Then she smiles and gives Austin and Ally an excited thumbs up before walking away with Max.

"Aw, I'm so glad you guys got together," Ally's mom says. "We hoped you would."

"Congratulations," her father adds. "I can't imagine anyone better for my little girl."

Ally raises her eyebrows. She definitely was not expecting that.

"Thanks," Austin says.

Then Ally's parents walk away, and Trish and Dez decide that it's time for them to go home. So Austin and Ally decide that they're done partying too, and they go to his room.

"Think your parents will let you sleep here?" he asks her when he shuts the door behind them.

She shrugs. "Better to ask forgiveness than permission. But I doubt they'll mind."

"I've taught you well," he says.

She rolls her eyes and stands on her tiptoes to kiss him. "Yeah, yeah." Then she pulls away and digs through his closet and drawers for a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

"Aw, but you look so good in that dress," Austin whines.

"But I _don't _look good when I'm tired and grumpy," she says, turning around and moving her hair so he can unzip her dress.

"You always look good," he tells her as he complies.

He laughs at her as she struggles to get the tight dress over her head.

"Shut up," she tells him.

"Can I help you?" he asks.

"Yes please."

She lifts her arms over her head and he pulls the dress off of her. He doesn't even make any comments or innuendoes as she changes into his clothes, and it all feels so _normal _that the officiality of their relationship hits her like a ton of bricks.

She doesn't say anything again until he's in pajamas too and they're in his bed, him on his back and her snuggled into his side with her head on that perfect spot between his chest and his shoulder.

"Hey, Austin?" she says into the darkness, closing her eyes.

"Yeah?" He turns on his side and wraps his other arm around her, pulling her closer to him until their noses and foreheads are touching.

"I'm gonna say something, and it's probably gonna sound like a _lot_, but when I get tired I get honest."

"I know you do," he says, and she wonders what she's admitted to him before when she's been half asleep.

"I can't imagine myself being with anyone else," she tells him. "Nobody's perfect, but I think you're perfect _for me_, you know? And even though I'm still getting used to all this, I'm really excited to be your girlfriend and I'm really happy it all feels so _real _now."

He tightens his arm around her, and she doesn't have to open her eyes to know that he's smiling. She smiles a little and rests a hand on his chest and feels his heart pounding.

"I'm really happy, too, Ally," he says quietly.

"And thank you again for being so patient with me. About everything," she continues. "You're so sweet, and you make me laugh, and it's like you can read my mind _all the time_." He laughs a little, and she does, too. "What I'm trying to say is that I just really love being with you, even just being _around _you."

He kisses her lips softly, and she feels his smile. "You're almost there," he tells her, that goofy teasing tone in his quiet voice. Of course he already knows where she's going with this.

"Don't ruin this," she says, but the smile in her voice gives her away, and he has to lean his head away from her to laugh.

"If you don't want me knowing you so well, don't be so damn easy to read," he giggles.

"No, no, I _want _you knowing me well," she says, feeling too tired and _mushy _to bicker with him. At that, he presses another kiss to her lips and rests his forehead against hers again. "I love you," she tells him, and even though their relationship only became official _tonight_, she absolutely means it.

He kisses her again, grinning so wide that she has to pull away because it isn't working. She laughs a little, getting that beautiful warm feeling in her chest again.

"I love you, too," he breathes.

She kisses him one more time and then turns so her back is facing him. With his arms still wrapped around her, he pulls her into him as close as possible and nuzzles his nose in her hair. She falls asleep in her boyfriend's arms, smiling like an idiot and never wanting this moment to end.

* * *

**ah fuck it was midnight a second ago and now it's 4am but hey i'm finally done w this **

**anyway happy new year! (march will be my seventh year on this dumbass site writing fanfiction about this disney show holy shit) **


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